The half-built City Plaza apartment complex near downtown Escondido has become a notorious eyesore since construction halted in 2009, but one of the project’s investors said Friday that work might resume shortly.

Investor Bill Harp said he expects years of legal wrangling to end during a foreclosure sale a judge has scheduled next month for the project at Third Avenue and busy Escondido Boulevard.

That sale would allow the roughly 30 investors involved with the project to sell it to one of several developers who have expressed interest in finishing it, Harp said.

Planned as a 56-unit upscale development, City Plaza has become a haven for transients, crime and dumping since construction stopped during the real estate crash.

The walls and beams of the half-built project have become covered with dirt and some appear bent and damaged, giving the structure a post-apocalyptic look as weeds have grown up around it.

Two other downtown Escondido housing projects that were stopped during the recession have been revived: Latitude 33 at Washington Avenue and Escondido Boulevard, and Contempo at Second Avenue and Centre City Parkway.

But City Plaza has remained dormant while multiple lawsuits among the owners, contractors and lenders have played themselves out.

“The big item there was they ran out of money,” Jim Hernandez, the project’s architect, said this week. “They are finally through all the legal mess of liens and defaults.”

Despite the project’s dilapidated appearance, Hernandez said he was confident a new developer wouldn’t have to tear everything down and start over.

He said much of the structure in place is weather-resistant concrete. He also said the foundation and most of the subterranean work has been completed. It will be the first project in Escondido to feature underground parking.

In addition, Hernandez said the project’s prefabricated plumbing and cabinets have been sitting safely in a warehouse for four years.

“It’s going to be good to go as soon as someone gets started,” he said.

Completion of the project can’t come quickly enough for Matt Nagdi, owner of the Patriot Motors used car lot across Escondido Boulevard from City Plaza.

“It’s a crappy, ugly place,” Nagdi said this week.

Nagdi also said he thinks the eyesore has hurt his business. He said the city should have put more pressure on the owners of City Plaza to make the site look better.

Mayor Sam Abed said he’s also been frustrated by the shoddy chain-link fences around the property and the project’s rundown look.

But Abed said the city’s code compliance officers have done everything they can to improve the project’s safety and aesthetics.

“An abandoned construction site is always a challenge,” he said. “And it’s even harder when there are lawsuits and questions about ownership.”

Abed said the revival of City Plaza would continue recent momentum for downtown housing projects. Most of Latitude 33’s 198 units have been rented, and construction is under way on the nearby Contempo condo project.

“Interest in downtown real estate is going to continue to grow,” he said.

City officials say quality housing downtown will enliven the area and attract better restaurants and entertainment venues.

Crews demolished the 1-acre Enchanted Gardens antique mall in January 2008 to make way for City Plaza. That project was approved with 9,200 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and a 126-slot underground parking garage.

Enchanted Gardens replaced a car dealership and several other businesses on the site in 1998.